Police have captured two members of a gang that is believed to have been burglarising homes in the Parfait/Harmonie housing development on the West Bank Demerara, over the past few months.
The two thieves were captured yesterday by a man who returned home and found them in his house. He managed to hold on to them until the police arrived. They were taken to the La Grange Police Station for questioning. One of the men is said to be a deportee.
This newspaper was told that since last year a gang has wreaked havoc in the scheme and even the home of a senior police officer was broken into.
They would usually target homes that are now being built and in which tools and other building materials such as cement are left. In some instances, residents said yesterday, the robbers would defecate in the house as their “trademark.”
One woman, whose almost completed house was broken into on Monday night said that tools, steel and cement worth over $100,000 were stolen.
The woman, Ms Thompson, said that this was the third time her house had been robbed. “They defecate when they done in the house,” she said. She reported the matter to the police but the captured duo denied that it was them who broke into her home.
Thompson said that she did not report the previous two break-ins even though the value of the items taken exceeded that on the last occasion.
“It make you feel down-spirited,” she said. On Monday night too, the external lights at a police officer’s home, located close to Thompson’s house, were stolen.
Another of Thompson’s neighbours who suffered break-ins at least four times has decided to move, she said.
“They need to speed up some security in here because it is a lot of people losing a lot of stuff,” Thompson said. “We need a police station in here. We need some sort of protection.”
The two captured thieves, one of whom took police around the scheme to point out where items were stolen, are expected to appear in court shortly.
